Tarah Makarem (SFS-Q ‘11) presented the findings of her Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) project at the Ninth International Conference of Communication and Mass Media in Athens, Greece, in May 2011. Assistant Professor Alexis Antoniades mentored the project, which studied whether one’s background or branding affects perception.

In 2013, Swiss-based international NGO, HELVETAS undertook the use of a curriculum designed by a group of SFS-Q students, namely, Eilin Francis (SFS-Q ‘13), Aakash Jayaprakash (SFS-Q ‘11), Aminah Kandar (SFS-Q ‘13), Jibin Koshy (SFS-Q ‘12), Marlene Nang (SFS-Q ‘13), and Qazi Rashid (SFS-Q ‘12). The curriculum was developed as part of a UREP project, mentored by Professor Ganesh Seshan and awarded in 2010 by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). The project entitled, “Qatar Longitudinal Study of Transnational Families,” found that migrant workers can learn to save more money after attending a short financial literacy workshop.

HELVETAS is a non-profit organization that promotes self-reliant and sustainable development in 30 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The NGO is committed to making migration safer for workers. They will use the curriculum designed by the SFS-Q students, together with other modules, to serve as a basis for the development of a specific training tool on budgeting and saving for workers in Sri Lanka.

Khadija Mahsud (SFS-Q ‘14), Nadia Al-Khater (SFS-Q ‘16), Catherine Lechicki (SFS-Q ‘16) and Sana Jamal (SFS-Q ‘16) delivered an address at the 2014 Undergraduate Research Symposium on Georgetown University Main Campus in April 2014. They delivered a keynote address on their UREP grant, ‘Doha by Design: Urban Planning and Social Spaces in Doha.’ The project, mentored by SFS-Q Professor Mark Farha and Georgetown Professor Patricia O’Connor, analyzes Doha’s use of planning and space, and the effects of those plans on social interaction.

Khadija Mahsud (SFS-Q ‘14), Nadia Al-Khater (SFS-Q ‘16), Catherine Lechicki (SFS-Q ‘16) and Sana Jamal (SFS-Q ‘16) presented their UREP project, ‘Doha by Design: Urban Planning and Social Spaces in Doha,’ in January 2014 at the (Re)thinking Global Connectedness: Critical Perspectives on Globalization at the Liberal Arts International Conference, at Texas A&M University in Qatar.

Catherine Lechicki (SFS-Q ‘16) and Khadija Mahsud (SFS-Q ‘14) presented their Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) project at the ‘Strangers, Aliens and Foreigners’ fifth Global Conference, held in Mansfield College, Oxford University in September 2013. The project entitled, “Doha by Design: Urban Planning and Social Sciences in Doha, Qatar” is also carried out by SFS-Q students, Nadia Al-Khater (SFS-Q ‘16) and Sara Jamal (SFS-Q ‘16).